Chapter Text
«Fifty percent is enough for me, Mr. Dent. I respect your way of making decisions and ask you to flip a coin. Depending on the outcome, you're either working with me on a Batman plan, or you're killing me».
Harvey looked doubtfully at the child in front of him. The boy – a typical Gotham child who covered his face with a cloth mask, wore gloves and completely black clothes covering every part of his body – came to him on his own, finding out his new location from nowhere even before Dent shared it with his people, so they were one on one. A boy who says he's eleven but looks like he's eight or nine, and a Gotham Villain who's at his most sane right now.
«You're stupid if you think I'm going to work with you, kid. What can a child do to Batman?»
«Flip a coin, Mr. Dent. I'll share the plan with you if I know you're in business», and after a moment's hesitation, the boy performed the simplest, but no less effective manipulation Dent had ever seen. «And I know that you don't back down from the decisions of fate, Mr. Dent. I'm ready to play by the rules and I won't resist if fate turns against me».
Harvey flips a coin.
The crossed-out side falls out.
«I'm in».
Despite the confidence with which the boy spoke, it's almost funny how his shoulders slump slightly in visible relief. Dent tries not to touch the children in his attacks, he thought about using the boy as bait if the other side falls out, but not killing him without the possibility of being saved. But Harvey wasn't going to report this: he has a certain reputation.
«I'm very glad to hear that, Mr. Dent. From now until the end of our interaction, I ask you to remember that you have agreed to work with me».
The boy smiles strangely, and before Dent can ask what it means, he feels a stabbing pain in his stomach. Looking down, he sees a tranquilizer dart that has broken through all the layers of his suit and – he feels – pierced his skin.
«Good night, Mr. Dent. I hope our cooperation will bring digestible results».
***
A few weeks after the death of Jason Todd – Robin – Tim found himself facing a difficult, especially incomprehensible question for him.
The stats said Batman needed Robin. With Robin, there were fewer injuries to criminals, fewer injuries to Batman himself, and more solved cases. The numbers dropped sharply after Dick Grayson left Gotham, rose when Jason appeared, and dropped again now that Robin is gone.
Psychology – and the answers to the veiled question on Reddit – says that Bruce needs a son, and preferably not just any one, but a specific one, the one who left. That Mr. Wayne is going through such a difficult period due to severe grief, in which there is almost no one to support him.
Experience says that Batman needs a new villain. When Batman had a big problem, it went without saying that the appropriate villain would appear. The main enemy appeared, which is obligatory for every hero – the Joker, an enemy for environmental problems appeared – Poison Ivy, an enemy appeared that does not allow his detective and mental abilities to fail – the Riddler, and so on. When things got bad, there was a specific enemy to fight. Right now, that enemy was his emotions, and that wouldn't do, because it wasn't a specific enemy.
Tim created a table in which he considered options for solving these issues, comparing their pros and cons.
For the first one, one could turn to Nightwing. He was Robin, and sometimes it's easier to bring back an old employee than to hire a new one. Tim is not sure about this – he was hired new nannies every time, until at the age of six his parents gave up after receiving another letter of resignation. Then they moved to Bristol, hired Mrs. Mac not as a nanny, but as a housekeeper who appeared twice a week for an hour or two. So she didn't have time to realize that Tim was an abnormal child, and she didn't quit.
So the advice from the Internet, saying that old employees were often outbid for higher salaries, as they were especially useful, came across Tim's experience that you can always hire another person on new terms.
But finding the right person for the role of Robin will be difficult and unacceptably long. Batman is already on edge, acting like he doesn't care if he dies on another patrol or not. No, he needs a plan that works just as well, but takes less time.
A new baby then? There are dozens of street kids on the Criminal Alley, it shouldn't be hard to find a blue-eyed, black-haired boy. Maybe Batman will agree to a girl, so that there won't be such a reminder of his dead son.
Except Jason was exceptional. Tim believes, even though he understands that he is morally wrong, that not every child deserves the chance that Jason got before he died. Jason aspired to knowledge, to justice, to goodness. The street had tempered him, but it hadn't spoiled him. He quickly became an excellent student at school, although he barely knew how to write when he entered there. In the blink of an eye, he made Robin's cloak his own, endowing Robin with magic. He didn't become some kind of charity project for Bruce Wayne, he became a son, and it's more difficult than just becoming a child that Bruce Wayne took into care.
Tim is not a good person, he knows that. And he's not lying to himself, thinking he can find a child who deserves what once belonged to Jason. So the idea of a new son has to be discarded.
Then there's the villain. But how can Tim create a villain? He can hire a man, but it won't be the same. We need someone on the level of Villains, not just criminals, which are plentiful in Gotham. Someone who makes a splash. Someone who stands out from the rest will bring Batman out of his terrible state.
Something glitters on the side. Tim turns his head. A sunbeam ran across the room, reflecting the sunset rays from a small mirror.
The child's unusually bright blue eyes and black hair look at Tim from the mirror. Suddenly, a metaphorical light bulb lights up overhead.
Tim burns all the sheets of calculations and options, realizing that he cannot leave any traces. That night, he buys a laptop with cash and fiddles with its operating system on the outskirts of the Bowery. It takes almost a week, but in the end Tim is sure that even Barbara Gordon will not be able to track his device. Not because Tim is better than Batgirl or Batman, but because he already hacked the batcomputer a few months ago, and he knows what to do to avoid the hero's search engines.
***
50 days after the official date of Jason Todd's death – because Tim had analyzed dozens of materials and felt that it would be very rude to do anything earlier than day 40, and the numbers between days 41 and 49 were not clear, which deeply unsettled Tim – a recording was broadcast on Gotham television with an obviously distorted montage by voice.
A boy in a Robin costume appeared in the frame. Not exactly accurate, but definitely recognizable, although a more knowledgeable person would also easily notice that the materials are different. The boy had green bottoms, yes, but instead of the panties or shorts that the previous Robins had, this one had cargo pants. Under the red top was black thermal underwear, so that almost all the skin, except for the face – hidden domino – was covered. The yellow gloves were replaced with black ones, and the cape was longer, black on the outside, but still bright yellow on the inside.
Oh, and the boy was also small. Tiny. In general, the residents of Gotham did not gain hope that Robin had returned, but from the very first shots they realized that this was a different person. At least those who knew something about Robin understood that.
«Good afternoon, broadcasting staff. My name is Robin, after my favorite character, Robin the Second, and his predecessor, Robin the original. Before I start doing anything, I would like to make an official statement and, in order not to make any mistakes, I will read it out. Thank you for your patience», the boy said stiffly, with a Bristol accent that caused involuntary disgust among many residents of the city. He actually took a few pages from which he read further, which made him look even younger in the eyes of the audience than at first glance.
«First of all, I would like to settle the legal issues. To be more precise, I am not blackmailing the TV company, I am not ordering it to immediately show my video on official channels, I am not giving Batman time through this video for which he will have to save someone. Everything that happens on this video will already happen at the time when the recording is received by television, it cannot be changed or corrected, and I did not assume this possibility, since this is a statement. For these reasons, I don't mind if the TV company calls the police first so they can do their job, and I'll be sad for the work I've done, but I also don't hold a grudge if the video doesn't get on the air at all. I will not target any employee of the broadcasting company, I will not take revenge, harm property or people, and so on and so forth. Further, all responsibility for what happens to the video is shifted to the TV company, and decisions on what to do with the disc I sent will be made by it or, if the company wishes and in accordance with any laws, the police».
After that, the boy lowered the sheets, smiling at the camera – he was missing one tooth in his lower jaw, but from the perfect condition of the rest of the teeth, it could be assumed that it was a fallen milk tooth.
«It's all official. Now I want to move on to the application. To do this, I enlisted the help of Mr. Harvey Dent».
And at that moment, the residents of Gotham became interested. If earlier the boy was treated with some contempt for his use of the image of Robin, now there is more bewilderment. The boy in the frame walked up to the camera, walked behind it and turned in the other direction of the dark room. There, on a rather sturdy chair, sat Two-Face. His hands were tied with layers of twine that seemed to take hours to wind up, so much of it was clutching all four limbs of the famous villain.
«By the way, Mr. Dent has voluntarily agreed to participate in my case. And it's not my fault that he didn't insist on finding out the case before he flipped a coin, you know? I was taking a risk too, I could die if the wrong side fell out. So basically everything happens with his consent, right, Mr. Dent?»
«Boy! What's happening?» Two–Face looked like he wasn't fully aware of what was happening, his pupils were wider than normal, and his usually clear voice seemed rather slurred. Other than that, he didn't talk or shout much, but rather shouted unintelligible threats or mumbled here and there.
«Yes, well, I gave him a tranquilizer after he agreed, so, again, this also happened with his consent», the voice sounded as if he hesitated at first, and then gained confidence. The camera was fixed, and Robin returned to the screen, standing slightly to the side of Two-Face. «Now the statement. I've done some statistics that show that Batman has become more violent and irrational in the last two months than before. We all know the unofficial reason for this, and I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Batman, but I can't agree with the methods you've chosen to resolve the issue, you know? You are the embodiment of the citizens' hope for security in the city. But now you're reckless, cruel, and don't take care of yourself. That's it».
The boy fumbled, rummaged in the pockets on the hips of his pants, and took out three photographs. Moving closer to the camera, he shoved them into the screen. In one, Batman was beating up the already bruised face of some petty robber. On the other, he fought alone against a dozen armed bandits. In the third, he was leaning on the batmobile and pressing his hand to his side, presumably wounded.
«I won't tell you where I got these photos from, because I have the right to remain silent, and I don't want to give you the photos, because they belong to me now, but I will send these three to the TV company so that they make sure that this is a real film of film cameras, and not a photoshop printed on special paper, you know? But only three. I don't feel too sorry for them, because Batman is reckless here – and, um, I say that word too often. I apologize, I guess that's my word-parasite».
It was somehow wrong to see a child with a formidable Villain tied to a chair behind him chewing his lip, getting embarrassed and muttering something so stupid. Robin walked back to his seat, putting the photos back in his pocket.
«I studied the statistics and came to the conclusion that Batman needs either Robin, or a child, or a new Villain. I can't be Robin, but since I'm a kid and I'm going to be a new Villain, I thought it would be poetic to take his name, because he helped Batman control himself, and that's exactly what I want to achieve. Batman doesn't hurt kids, and I think he doesn't want kids to do bad things. That's why I'm telling him that I'm going to do bad things every time he crosses the line».
Laughter rolled through the city, but it was kind of nervous, incredulous. What will this baby do to Two-Face? Will he draw a mustache with an indelible marker?
«He has done a lot of things that cross the line lately, but since this is my first warning, I will not match his number of offenses, but will choose only one. I will voice it so that Batman gets public condemnation. He should be a hero, and live up to that title», the boy paused, catching his breath. He carried himself quite well, as if he was speaking at a large-scale presentation, and tried to behave like an adult. «He recently caught a petty thief. Personal details can't be disclosed, so I'll call him David, but Batman himself will probably be able to check his recent patrols and figure out who I'm talking about. David robbed a grocery store, pointed a gun at the clerk, and all that. It's not cool, honestly», the boy stumbled, caught himself in frivolous words and tried to return to the prim narration. «He did something bad, but Batman punished him disproportionately worse. He caught and beat David, breaking his leg in two places along the way. David was taken away by an ambulance – by the way, I called it, not Batman. David is now predicted to have a severe limp, which most likely will not go away with time, and he now has large debts on medical bills. Before that, he couldn't even pay for his groceries, otherwise he wouldn't have robbed the grocery store, you know? So Batman has only made things worse, and maybe David will have to act worse to deal with his debts. For example, selling drugs. Or catching homeless people for the slave trade. Or something else. So Batman made it worse».
After that, the boy smiled, brightly and incongruously, causing the audience to involuntarily feel a shiver.
«Therefore, my warning will be Two-Face! Because, you know, he was the easiest to get from famous Villains who mean something to Gotham. He has been officially proven to have done things much worse than a simple store robbery. So it would be terribly hypocritical of Batman to accuse me of doing almost the same thing to a much worse person, you know? Very hypocritical».
Little Robin ran out of the frame and returned with large scissors, alcohol, gauze, and a thin butter knife that sparkled as if it had been sharpened.
«Next, I allow the television to censor my actions, but I ask you not to cut them if the recording goes on the air. Otherwise, it will be a simple chatter, you know?» The boy dropped his things onto Dent's lap, except for the scissors, which he used to cut the right sleeve of Dent's suit. «I'm going to cut the tendons in Mr. Dent's arm. This will prevent him from flipping a coin with one of his hands, which will prevent him from doing some mischief. In doing so, I will not violate the Batman code. I've carefully studied the anatomy of my hands, so I shouldn't hit an artery, and if I cauterize everything in time so that the doctors can't fix it, he won't bleed out and die. He just won't be able to use his hand. It's almost the same as limping for life, it fits. Look, there's a muscle group here...»
The boy poured alcohol over the hand of the sluggishly twitching Two-Face, after which he reached for a knife. He explained in detail to the camera where the muscle was located, and then began to cut. The day started twitching, starting to scream – it was obvious, but the TV channel turned off the sound at that moment. Judging by the movement of his lips, the boy continued to explain, and they were added with subtitles.
At some point, Robin stopped. He kicked Dent in the leg in annoyance, left the frame, and then returned with some kind of cloth, which he easily stuffed into Two-Face's mouth, which was open from screaming. After that, as if there had never been a break, he returned to his work, and the audience watched for second after second as Dent's clenched right hand, tied to a chair, suddenly went limp, the fingers fell in some unnaturally relaxed position. At the same time, the subtitles were broadcasting: «Oh. And how to cauterize?».
Robin's face showed panic until he pressed his lips together in a stubborn expression. He quickly wrapped a piece of gauze above the crook of Dent's elbow, tightening the knot especially tightly, and then jumped out of the frame. The first edit of the video took place – a large chunk of time was cut out, judging by how Dent looked too tired to continue screaming, and his hand was pretty covered in blood. The boy came back into the frame at that moment and, fuck, fuck, he was burning meat with a lighter, directly with a lighter!
What's wrong with this kid? How can you be like that... Like this?
«I'm going to be the new villain», he said a few minutes earlier in the video. He was hardly taken seriously then. Now many doubted that this was a stupid, improbable idea of an arrogant rich kid.
«That's it!» the subtitles read a couple of minutes later, when the boy released the lighter and put it in his pocket. The sound was never turned on because of Dent's screams returning from the fire. Robin looked incredibly pleased with himself as he addressed the camera. «As I said before, I don't plan on doing this for nothing. If Batman wants me not to do this again, he has to pull himself together and become who he was before. If Batman needs Robin to hold him in his arms, he'll have Robin. I thank the broadcasting company for giving me the time. I'll send Mr. Dent to Arkham myself, don't worry».
That was the end of the video. The presenter said that the photos had indeed been provided to their channel and had already been handed over to the Gotham police for further investigation. It is also reported that Harvey Dent was taken to Arkham by a shabby taxi that usually runs along Park Row. The taxi driver was found, but he does not speak English, and informed the translator provided that Harvey himself got into his taxi and gave him the address. They inserted a video from the interrogation with subtitles-a translation of the statement.
«Yes, he looked like he was very drunk, but it was a very bad neighborhood, very bad, all the customers there are very drunk, very. There was no one who sat him down, he sat down himself. He put his hand out to me near a kiosk with street food, I don't know where he came from, I don't know anything. He was very drunk».
There was a new villain, Robin, and Gotham didn't know what to do with him.
At Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne quickly sobered up from the newscast.